Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike on Thursday ended the denial of women inheritance prevalent among cultures in Rivers state as he signed into law the Prohibition of the Curtailment of Women’s Right to Share in Family Property and two other bills passed by the State House of Assembly.
Explaining the significance of the new state laws, at the Government House, Port Harcourt, Wike said he could not comprehend why it is considered taboo in many parts of Rivers for female children to share in family inheritance.
He said, “Because you’re a girl, you’re a woman, you’re not entitled to inherit what belongs to your father. It is not you who decides to have a girl or a boy. It is God. So, put yourself in their shoes today where, by God’s mercy you have three children, all girls and you struggle in life to see what you can keep for them.
“Tomorrow, one of their uncles comes, and says, my friend, girls don’t inherit their father’s property. With all your efforts in life, somebody comes to discriminate against them, why?
“We have even found out that women are more useful to us than even the men. The day, you’re getting old and dying you’ll know that you need more daughters than men. They will leave their husband’s houses and come to take care of you.”
He asserted that the law is important to the development of the State because it will enable people to actualise their potential and women allowed by law to inherit their entitlements, urging the women to henceforth stand up for their rights and challenge any discrimination against them in court, armed with the new law.
On the Rivers Pension Reform (amendment) Law No. 4 of 2022, he said pensioners protest unpaid entitlements due to ignorance on the good intentions of the government, adding, “The government has a good intention and wants to do it at its own time.
“Only government knows when it can carry out this responsibility. The government will pay when it will pay. Government cannot carry everything same time. Whether you like it or not, huge chunk of our resources go into the civil service.”
On the Rivers Compulsory Treatment and Care of Victims of Gunshots Law No. 3 of 2022, Wike said within the confines of the law, any victim of a gunshot would be required to be properly identified so that such person can be traced should the person runway after treatment.
The Governor however explained that the law is in furtherance of the responsibility of the government to protect lives because even the criminal needs to be alive to be tried and made to suffer for his crime.
